SUHD Televisions

Understanding the difference between 4K, UHD, SUHD, and Super UHD

Big picture is a big part of our everyday experience; for over a
decade we have been progressively pushing the boundaries of televisions
and computer monitors to give us brighter, crisper, more clean picture.
The move from SD (480p) to HD was an impressive increase in quality,
first to 720p then to 1080p, something that went hand in hand with the
upgrade from DVD to Blu-ray. The next step is an interesting one because
it has been littered with industry terms: 4K, UHD, SUHD, Super UHD,
OLED, and HDR. Understand the difference between 4k and the rest and
simplify your buying decision. Read on to get started.

There are a number of things to consider when you step above 1080p as
a resolution. A quick sidebar: in computing there is a mid-step between
1080p and 4K, called 1440p; it’s picking up steam as a
popular option as manufacturers split the difference between resolution
and natural refresh rate. Many gamers are choosing 1440p and a 144Hz
(or greater) refresh rate attached to either AMD FreeSync or Nvidia
G-Sync monitors. If all of that felt like a mouthful and you’re mostly
just interested in 4K computer monitors or TVs, don’t worry: it really
doesn’t affect you.

4K Basics and the truth about resolution

So let’s get down to brass tacks with 4K. First of all: to appease
the nerds out there like myself, yes it’s disingenuous that 4K was
termed 4K, which is why some manufacturers are choosing to call it
something else. Why is it a bit disingenuous? To understand that we need
to think about how resolutions are typically measured. There are two
numbers: the first is the number of horizontal lines of pixels, the
second is the number of vertical lines of pixels. The higher those two
numbers are, the higher the resolution and the sharper the image. Let’s
look at the previous two standards

720p is a resolution of 1280 horizontal lines by 720 vertical lines

1080p is a resolution of 1920 horizontal lines 1080 vertical lines

Reasonably speaking, 4K should be 4000+ vertical lines, right?

Wrong.

4K resolution, along with UHD, Super UHD, and SUHD, currently all
mean a horizontal resolution of approximately four thousand lines. In
fact, the resolution of most “4K” displays is 3820×2160. This is known
in broadcast as UHD-1. There IS a 4K specification that reaches
7680×4320 known as UHD-2, but currently there aren’t any consumer level
displays that support that specification, and there isn’t any readily
available consumer content to view it on.

I guess the marking folks thought that 4K sounded better than 2160p.
So does that mean that 4K isn’t worth it? Far from it. I’m typing this
on a brand new 4K monitor, and in my living room there’s a 4K TV. Even
with 1080p content on my 4K TV I am always astounded at the improvement
in quality, and 4K resolution on your computer is something of a
double-edged sword; it’s absolutely beautiful, but once you’ve
experienced it you’ll never want to use anything else.

Deciphering UHD, SUHD, Super UHD, and more

There’s one other 4K resolution out there: 4096×2160. The
professional term for it is “DCI 4K” resolution and it’s used by the
film and television industry to produce and master high resolution
content. Because this resolution is typically termed “4K” due to it
being twice the horizontal and vertical resolution of 2K video, many
manufacturers are stepping away from identifying their displays as “4K”
and instead using other names.

So that’s the big deal! A case of mistaken identity as brands are
looking to help consumers decide which TV to buy. The downside: they’re
starting to muddy the waters a bit more. So let’s break it down:

UHD
UHD is a term that many manufacturers were using to describe 4K TVs from
2014 through to now. UHD TVs are 4K, which means their resolution is
3840×2160.

Samsung calls their standard 4K displays “UHD TV”

LG calls their their standard 4K displays “4K Ultra HD TV”

Sony calls their standard 4K displays “4K Ultra HD TV”

Vizio calls their standard 4K displays “4K Ultra HD TV”

Super UHD/SUHD
It was at CES in 2015 where Samsung first started using the term SUHD;
there were a lot of questions at the time as to what the S stood for.
Some speculated it meant “Super” while others argued for “Spectacular”,
“Stupendous” or even the very on-the-nose “Samsung”. In an effort to
differentiate themselves in the market, Samsung took the high end set of
their 4K displays and designated them as SUHD. The hallmarks of these
displays included Samsung’s implementation of Quantum Dot display tech,
offering wider colour gamut and a richer visual experience. SUHD TVs, 4K
HDR TVs, Super UHD TVs, and Ultra HD HDR TVs are all 4K, so they too
have a resolution of 3840×2160.

Everyone else is jumping on the bandwagon too, so much so that LG has
dubbed their higher end non-OLED 4K displays as “Super UHD” this year.
Given that UHD means Ultra High Definition, Super Ultra High Definition
feels like a title that would be given to a Street Fighter game from
Capcom. Nonetheless it helps to designate displays that have enhanced
colour technology. Going forward from 2016 this technology will include
High Dynamic Range as a feature (HDR).